PASADENA-Ralph Poole, a community activist and long-time champion of Northwest Pasadena residents, died early Monday after suffering a heart attack on June 14. He was 78.

A 20-year U.S. Navy veteran, Poole served on the Northwest Commission for many years, starting in 1990, and was one of the original members of the Fair Oaks Project Area Committee formed in 1985.

Poole also was a founder of the Kings Villages Apartments Tenants Association, and was involved in the issues that concerned those who often lack a voice, said Assemblyman and former Pasadena City Councilman Chris Holden.

“He was a very committed community activist who quite frankly advocated effectively for the needs of the poor and disenfranchised, usually around housing-related issues,” Holden said from Sacramento.

“He was always very concerned about the rehabilitation and revitalization of Northwest Pasadena, and was a sort-of institutional memory on how decisions from the past created some of the problems we’re dealing with currently,” Holden said. “He was always there to bring the community perspective to the policy debates.”

Holden said Poole was “really a kind person, with a gentle spirit” who knew the history of the community and brought a measured style to often emotional debates.

“He will be missed, certainly by many in the community who relied on him, and even leaned on him to carry their concerns forward to City Hall.”

Poole was a “beloved and influential community leader, a tireless advocate for those in need and a warrior of local justice,” Jim Morris, a friend of many years, said in a statement for Poole’s family. “He worked at various schools throughout the community as an educator, mentor and writer. He worked with young people between the ages of 4 to 15 in a program known as Project Safetime, which operated in Kings Villages Apartments … There wasn’t very much that happened in Northwest Pasadena that didn’t first go through Mr. Poole, Community issues such as gangs, family, housing, development, policing, you name it; Mr. Poole had a hand in it.”

Poole, who was born in Arkansas, was the father of 10 children, including six sons — two of whom predeceased him — and four daughters, Morris said, adding that he had 32 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.